1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to sealant melters and, more particularly, relates to a sealant melter having a sealant block feed assembly for the controlled delivery of sealant blocks to a heated sealant tank of the sealant melter without splashing and to a retrofittable sealant block feed assembly usable with a sealant melter.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Sealant melters are well-known for use in conjunction with applicators that apply a viscous hot liquid sealant to joints or cracks in concrete, asphalt, or the like. The typical sealant melter includes a mobile frame (typically a trailer) on which is mounted a melter and an applicator. The applicator typically takes the form of a wand or nozzle. The melter typically takes the form of a sealant tank and a liquid fuel-fired heater mounted on the frame adjacent the sealant tank and operable to supply heat to the sealant tank. The heated sealant tank melts blocks of sealant and stores the hot liquid sealant for subsequent dispensation to the applicator.
Feeding sealant blocks to the traditional sealant melter is a labor-intensive task that places operators at risk of being splattered by sealant splashing from the sealant tank. Sealant blocks typically are delivered to a worksite by a towing/storage vehicle (typically a dump truck, flatbed truck, or the like) that hauls the sealant blocks and that also tows the trailer. Solid sealant blocks, typically weighing about 30 lbs, are delivered one at a time from a first operator stationed on the towing/storage vehicle to a second operator stationed on the ground. The second operator then delivers the sealant blocks one at a time through an upper inlet in the sealant tank. This inlet typically is located at or near the level of the second operator's head. The second operator therefore must expend substantial effort in delivering sealant blocks to the sealant tank. If the sealant tank is nearly full, hot sealant (on the order of 500.degree. F.) may splash out of the sealant tank upon the ingress of the sealant blocks and splatter on the surrounding area and even on the second operator.
Hence, there is a need for a sealant block feed assembly that is usable with a sealant melter and that facilitates the supply of sealant blocks to the sealant tank.
One prior attempted solution to this problem involved the use of an unpowered gravity-feed roller conveyor that led from the towing/storage vehicle to a receptacle on the sealant tank. The receptacle took the form of a box having an inlet in one of its vertical sides. The roller conveyor sloped downwardly from the towing/storage vehicle to the side inlet of the receptacle so that sealant blocks placed on its upper end slid by gravity into the side inlet of the receptacle.
The sealant block feed assembly using an unpowered conveyor and a side-fed receptacle proved imperfect. The receptacle may have helped reduce splashing, but its front or side inlet terminated so close to the inlet opening of the sealant tank that it could not assuredly prevent liquid sealant from splashing out of the sealant tank upon sealant block ingress. Moreover, there was no practical way to arrest sealant block movement along the conveyor and hence no way to prevent sealant blocks from sliding into the receptacle once they were placed on the conveyor. Sealant blocks therefore could not be loaded in batches by a single operator and then subsequently fed one at a time into the sealant tank from curbside but instead needed to be fed to the receptacle one at a time by an operator stationed on the vehicle. In addition, the sealant block feed assembly was difficult to retrofit onto previously-assembled sealant melters.